Pub for sale, but not as a pub

Pub campaigners have labelled Enterprise Inns "a disgrace" for trying to sell a historic pub on the condition that its use is changed.

The Bell, in the Redcliffe area of Bristol, has been put on the market for £225,000 but with the covenant that the new owners will not run it as a pub.

Members of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Bristol Pubs Group are furious that the pub, believed to date from 1750, will only reopen as a different type of business.

Mike Chappell, of CAMRA Bristol, said: "Enterprise is not doing this pub or the area justice.

"This pub has a historic connection back to the times when Redcliffe was awash with pubs and industry.

"We will make sure that the Bristol City Council planning department is aware there is anger regarding this restriction so that change of use is not granted."

He added: "Restrictive covenants were there to ensure that inappropriate use of a building was not sought once sold.

"Clearly, as Enterprise has run this as a pub, this cannot be the case here. The decision to impose this restriction is a disgrace".

He added the group was writing to English Heritage in a bid to get the building listed.

The pub is understood to have struggled in recent years and has been shut for the last two months.

Enterprise Inns chief operating officer Simon Townsend said the pubco had recently invested heavily in nearby pub the Ship.

He said: "The decision to dispose of any Enterprise pub is not taken lightly and not before every possible option for the continuation of the premises has been carefully explored.

"However, given that the Bell is in considerable disrepair, which we believe would cost in excess of half a million pounds to put right, we have chosen to place the pub on the open market."

He added that there "had been no interest in the property for continued licensed use."

The pub is on the market with James A Baker Property Consultants.